Martyr
by Adalanta
Summary: COMPLETE. Missing scene from Bastille Day. Kara angrily confronts Lee about his decision right after he saves Zarek.


Martyr

By Adalanta

Disclaimer: Don't worry, I'm not making a penny off of this.

Author's Note: This is just a quick story that came to me after watching "Bastille Day" – which I absolutely loved, by the way. Kara looked so mad at Lee for saving Zarek that I could just imagine her chewing him out later. Thus, this story was born. Please, take a second to let me know what you think. Thanks! Enjoy!

Martyr

"What the frak did you think you were doing?!"

Captain Lee Adama pulled his weary, aching body up the last two rungs of the ladder, trying his hardest to ignore the blond fury (otherwise known as Lieutenant Kara Thrace) and her hissed words. The hostage situation was nearly over. Sergeant Kwan, a Marine medic, was tending to Callie, and Lee had been beyond relieved to hear the young deckhand would survive. She'd lost a lot of blood but the medic had already set up an IV and would be ready to move her within the next ten minutes.

Tom Zarek had quietly gathered the other prisoners to the far end of the ship to discuss Lee's offer. Lee had Zarek's word that 1,000 men would be available in the next few hours for the water detail, and despite everything that had happened, Lee still believed the older man – though he couldn't put his reasons into words in order to justify himself. Normally, he would have been involved in choosing the men, but at this point, he didn't care who they were or how they were chosen, whether or not they volunteered willingly or were forced into the job. All he cared about was getting all of his people out of the ship alive and without further incident.

"I'm serious, Lee." The angry words were close behind him as he moved towards the control room of the _Astral Queen_ to inform _Galactica_ that everything was under control. "What did you think you were doing? You had him right in your sites!"

The adrenaline flowing through his exhausted body had begun to dissipate in the last few minutes since the final confrontation, but Thrace's words caused it to start up once again. Gritting his teeth, he opened the hatch to the control room, entered, and slammed the metal door shut in her face, praying that Kara would take the hint and leave him alone. Hearing the creaking hatch open a second later quickly erased the foolish thought.

"Kara, I don't have time for this," he ground out through clenched teeth, his hands squeezing the metal rails in front of the view screens.

"Don't have time for what, Lee – the truth?" She was on a roll now and refused to stop. "You had him! One shot and it all would've been over!"

Breathing heavily, he bowed his head and closed his eyes, trying desperately to rein in his growing temper. "You weren't there," he said shortly. "You don't understand."

He felt Kara step up beside him, and he swore he could feel the anger radiating off her like the heat of Caprica's sun. "He's a terrorist. He took you hostage. He was willing to kill you all! What else is there to understand?!"

His hands clenching the rail tightly, he took a deep, shuddery breath. All the stress and tension of the last few hours coiled inside him like a snake, writhing, looking for a way out of its confining cage. He'd managed to keep it in check throughout the entire hostage situation but now…He didn't know how much longer he could contain it.

"You had him! You should've taken him out and ended it!"

That did it. The cage's door swung wide open and the snake, coiled and ready, sprung out to attack.

Lee's head snapped up and over to the right, his blue eyes flashing, and angrily turned on her. "You're right! If I'd have killed Zarek, that would have ended it! For me. For you. For every single person on this frakking ship! Oh, yeah," a bitter smile twisted his lips, "not to mention the end of my father's and the President's authority and the complete collapse of the ENTIRE GOVERNMENT!" The shouted words reverberated loudly about the room as he glared into his friend's wide eyes.

The rage that coursed through his body left him literally shaking as his system attempted to deal with the overload of adrenaline. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm down but it didn't seem to help. He had to repeat it several times before he felt able to speak with some semblance of control. "Zarek had the whole thing planned," he sighed as he sank down onto the nearby step, his energy disappearing along with the adrenaline. Holding his throbbing head in his hands, he closed his eyes and continued in a weary, worn voice. "He wanted a bloodbath and that's exactly what he would have gotten if I'd killed him. He wanted to be a martyr, Kara. And you know that the only thing more dangerous than a terrorist is a martyred terrorist. That was exactly what he wanted to happen. I couldn't kill him."

Silence.

"But you wanted to," came softly after a long pause.

"Yes." The admission came unbidden to his lips. Oh, how he had wanted to kill him in those endless seconds after he'd refused to stop the other prisoner from killing Callie. He still trembled inside at the thought. Even though he'd known that killing Zarek would have destroyed everything he'd worked for – everything he stood for – he still had longed to pull the trigger. And that scared him more than anything else.

"How's Callie doing?"

He was infinitely grateful for the change of subject. "Kwan says she's going to make it, but she'll be sore for a while and will have to take it easy." He slowly raised his head and looked at Kara for the first time since he'd left the _Galactica_, noticing how her pale face was drawn with tension.

"You look terrible," she said as she sat down next to him on the step.

He let out a short laugh. "Funny. That's exactly what I was going to say about you."

She smiled and shook her head. "Yeah, well, at least I'm not bleeding. You're going to have one heck of a shiner there, Lee. What'd you get hit with – a fist or a pipe?" she asked, only partially joking.

"A fist…I think," he replied honestly. Those frantic moments after he'd left Zarek's cell were mostly a blur. He remembered fighting several prisoners and taking a couple of sharp blows to the face as he tried to make his way to the upper level where the gate controls were located. The last thing he remembered was being slammed to the floor and feeling the blows rain down on his unprotected body. Now that he'd come down off the adrenaline high, his back and torso felt like one massive bruise.

"You doing okay?" Kara's concerned voice broke into his thoughts.

"Yeah. A bit bruised but nothing serious." Brushing off her concern was second nature to him, even after all their years of friendship. Noticing her obvious skepticism, he opened his mouth to reassure her but was cut off before he could speak.

"Somehow, I find it difficult to believe that you just sat back and let the ship be taken over without trying to stop it. I know you, Lee," she said seriously, laying a hand on his arm. "I know how you think. You wouldn't have given up without a fight."

"I was in Zarek's cell when the rest of the prisoners were released," he shrugged. "I tried to make it to the controls but…" He let the sentence trail off, refusing to go into further detail.

"None of the other hostages look as bad as you – well, except for Callie."

"They didn't have any warning," he said simply. "I did."

"Okay. Fine." She shook her head, clearly frustrated at her inability to get him to talk about what had happened. "But you better stop by Life Station and get checked out when we get back to _Galactica_. After the last time…" She stopped mid-sentence, thinking back not long ago to when Lee had suffered a skull fracture(a) and nearly died. Stomach twisting at the terrifying memory, she hurried on. "Second thought, I think I'll escort you there myself just to make sure. Now," she added briskly, standing up and stretching, "are we about done here?"

"Kwan should have Callie stabilized in a few minutes, and then we'll evacuate the rest of the staff and the guards." He sighed heavily and flashed a bittersweet smile. "Now all I have to do is inform the Commander and the President about the deal I made with Zarek."

Kara laughed at his reluctant tone and then gave him a hand up. "Are you sure you really want to go back? There's plenty of room here, you know. And you already know several of the men."

"Funny, Kara. Very funny."

THE END

(a) see my other story _Any Crash You Can Walk Away From_


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